Adjustable knife-bar for sugar-mills.



Patented Feb. 27, |900.

,AQ B. cLEMENs. ADJUSTABLE KNIFE BAB FR SUGAR MILLS.

(Application med nec. '16, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I,

wnNessl-:s 2f 6 INVENTOR MWWM,

TH: Nonnls PETERS co. FHoroLrrHu., WASHINGTON, Dy c4 No. 644,320. Paten'tedQFeb'. 27, |900. A. B. CLEMENS.

ADJUSTABLE KNIFE BAR FOR SUGAR M| LLS.

(Application fued Dec. 1'6, 1899.)

2 Sheets--Sheet 2 (No Model.)

INVENTOR WITNESSES y@ THE Nonms PETERS co.. PHoTn-LTuo.. WASHINGTON. u. c,

UNTTED STATES PATENT EETEEe j ANDREW B. oLEMENs, or ANsoNIA, CONNECTICUT, AssI'eNoE To THE EAREEL EoUNDEv AND MACHINE COMPANY, on SAME PLACE.

ADJUSTABLE KNIFE-BAR FOR SUGAR-MILLS.v

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 644,320, dated February 27, 1900.

Application iiled December 16J 1899. Serial No. 740,531. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW B. OLEMENs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ansonia, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Adj ustable Knife-Bar for Sugar-Mills, of which the following is -a specification.A

My invention has for its object to provide a bar or carrier for the knife, so called, or cane-guide in sEgar-miIlSWhich shall be so constructed as to support the knife its entire length, except the ends, whichrest upon the usual lugs extending from the housings, which shall be laterally adjustable on an abutment, carrying the knife with it, to compensate for wear of the knife in use, and which shall be so constructed as to avoid any angles or projections that could catch and retain fine bagasse.v

It has been a source of serious difficulty in sugar-mills as heretofore constructed that the knife-bar, which was supported at the ends only, would spring or sag in use and, furthermore, that the construction of the bar was such that fine bagasse could collect and harden to such a degree as to frequently render the adjustment of the knife a very difcult matter, bagasse that collected between the knife-bar and roll acting to prevent the knifebar from being brought up to the roll and quite frequently requiring to be chipped away with a hammer and chisel before the knifebar could be moved. In order to overcome these objections, I have devised a novel laterally-movable knife-bar and abutment therefor which supports the knife for practically its entire length, thereby preventing springing or-sagging of the knife at the center, and whose sides are so shaped as to adapt them to serve as conductors for conveying any bagasse that may leak from the knife into the pan. Ifurthermore provide adjusting-nuts the outer faces of which are closed by caps, so that the threads of the bolts are protected from the cane-juice, and the nuts may be rotated at any time without difficulty to adjust the knife-bar and knife in use.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the bed, pan, and housings of a sugar-mill, showing the knife and my novel knife-bar and abutment in elevation, one of the adj usting-nuts being removed and the adjusting-bolt appearing in section; Fig. 2, a plan view showing the knife and side guides in position, the housings appearing in horizontal section; Fig. 3, aview corresponding therewith at the left except that the side guide is removed, the right half of said View showing the knife-bar in horizontal section on the line 3 3 in Fig. l; Fig. 4, an end view of the knife-bar and a side guide, the housing-lug being in 'section on the line Lt 4 in Fig. l; Fig. 5, a vertical section of the knife and knife-bar on the line 5 5 in Fig. l and showing, partly in section and partly in elevation, a portion of the abutment on which the knife-bar rests; Fig. 6, a detail sectional View, on an enlarged scale, on the line 6 6 in Fig. 3, showing the adjusting-bolt and adj listing-nuts and the mode of adjusting the knife-bar; and Fig. 7 yisa section of 011e of the capped adjusting-nuts removed.

A denotes the bed; B, the pan, which is cast in the bed; C, the housings; -D, (appearing in dotted lines only,) the rolls; E, the abutment as a whole, upon which the knifebar rests; F, theknife-bar; G, the knife, and H the side guides.

The special design of the abutment is not of the essenceof my invention, the requirements being simply to provide ample strength to support the knife-bar and knife practically its entire length and at the same time to make the 'structure as light as is possible without depriving it of ynecessary strength. In practice the bed, pan, and abutment may be va single casting or a plurality of castings rigidly secured together, as may be deemed best by the manufacturer or may be best adapted to meet the requirements of anyspecial use. The housings in which the rolls are journaled rest upon the bed. At each end of the abutment is a recess lO, which gives clearance to heavy lugs 11, which extend inward from the housings.

12 denotes transverse recesses in the top of the abutment, at the ends of which are larger recesses I3, which receive4 blocks let. The knife-bar rests upon the abutment and upon the heavy lugs 11, which extend inward from the housings, and is secured tothe abutment IOO by means of bolts 15, which pass through slots 1G in the top of the abutment and engage the knife-bar, washers 17, placed between the bolt-heads and the surface of the abutment, permitting lateral movement of the bolt in the slot when the bolts are looscned, as in adjusting the knife-bar and knife. The knife-bar is secured to lugs 11 by means of bolts 1S, which pass through slots 19 in the knife-bar and through the lugs, washers 17 being provided between the bolt-heads and the knife-bar and the nuts 2O upon the bolts engaging the under side of the lugs.

2l denotes heavy lugs upon the under side of the knife-bar, which lie in the transverse recesses 12.

22 denotes headless bolts threaded at vboth ends, which extend through the lugs 21 and the blocks 14, as clearly shown in Fig. 6. These bolts, which for convenience I will term adjusting-bolts, are secured to and held central in lugs 21 by means of nuts 23, which engage the opposite sides of the lugs. At each end of each adjusting-bolt is an adjusting-nut 24. The peculiarity of construction of these nuts is that they are provided on their outer faces with caps 25, which receive the ends of the bolt freely, giving ample room for the nuts to be turned down on the bolts in adjusting the knife-bar, but cornpletely covering and protecting the ends of the bolts, so that it will be impossible for cane-juice and bagasse to get to the boltthreads and set the nuts thereon by oxidation, which has been a serious cause of difculty in sugar-mills as heretofore constructed.

An important feature of construction of the knife-bar is that the vertical surfaces 26 run into inclines 27,so that the iine bagasse that sometimes leaks from the knife is conducted off and caused to dropinto the pan, and there will be no place for bagasse to collect and harden, so as to interfere with the adj ustu ment ofthe knife-bar and knife.

As indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, the cane is fed in at the right and passes first between the right roll and the upper roll and is then conducted by the knife forward and upward, so that it will pass between the upper roll and the left roll, so that the cane is acted upon twice by the three rolls. In practice the knife is set up close against the right roll, so that it will be impossible for any cane to follow the right roll, and thus escape passing between the upper roll and the left roll. As there is constant and appreciable wear upon the knife, it follows that the knife not infrequently requires to be moved'slightly nearer to the right roll. It is to permit this adjustment to be made in a simple and convenient manner that I have devised this improved knife-bar and abutment.

The knife is rigidly secured to the knifebar by means of bolts 28, whose heads are countersunk in the operative surface of the knife, as clearly shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 5, and which pass through a portion of the knifebar and are locked in place by nuts and setnuts, which I have indicated by 29. At each end of the knife is a recess 30 and groove 31, which receive the side guides II. guides are provided on their under sides with ribs 32, which engage the grooves and prevent the possibility of lateral displacement of the side guides. The side guides are secured in placev by means of bolts or screws 33, which passthrough the side guides and engage the knife. In practice the sides of the guides II taper inward and forward, so as to prevent the mass of cane that has been crushed by the right and upper rolls from spreading out- These side ward and to insure that the entire mass passes between the upper and the left rolls. The upper roll is provided with a flange 34, (see dotted lines, Fig. 1,) which lies outside of the guide and in connection therewith insures the passage through the rolls of all the cane that is fed to the mill.

The means of attachment of the side guides to the knife and of the knife to the knife-bar do not require to be disturbed in use. In order to adjust the knife-bar and knife, it is simply necessary to slightly loosen bolts 15, which secure the knife-bar to the abutment and which pass through slots in the abutment, and bolts 18, which secure the knife-bar to the housing-lug and which pass through slots in the knife-bar, and then to tighten one or the other, as may be, of the adj Listing-nuts on the adj Listing-bolts (ordinarily, of course, the left nuts, as seen in Fig. 6) to move the knifei bar sufficiently to place the knife in the desired position relatively to the first roll-'z'. e., the right roll-as seen in the drawings. After adjustment the other adjusting-nut is of course tightened up to lock the adjustingbolts, and with them the knife-bar and knife, in position after adjustment.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a device of 4the character described the combination with an abutment having trans verse recesses 12 and recesses 13, of a knifebar having lugs lying in recesses 12, blocks lying in recesses 13, headless do uble-threaded adjusting-bolts carried by the knife-bar and passing through the blocks, and nuts engaging the ends of the adj Listing-bolts whereby the knife-bar may be moved laterally.

2. In a device of the character described the combination with an abutment having trans verse recesses 12 and recesses 13, of housings having lugs 11, a knife-bar having lugs lying in recesses 12 and slots 19, blocks lying in re-v cesses 13, headless double-threaded adjustingbolts carried by the knife and passing through the blocks, nuts engaging the ends of the' adjusting-bolts, and bolts 18 which pass through slots 19 and engage the lugs.

3. In a device of the characterdescribed the combination with an abutment having transverse recesses 12, recesses 13, and slots 1G, of a knife-bar having lugs lying in recesses 12, bolts which pass through slots 16 and engage IOS IZO

thel knife-bar, blocks lying in recesses 13, headless double-threaded adj listing-bolts carried bythe knife-bar and passing through Jthe I blocks, and capped nuts engaging the ends of the adj listing-bolts.

4. In adevice of the character described the combination with an abutment, E, of a knifebar, as F, having lugs 2l, blocks 14, headless double-threaded adj Listing-bolts rigidly secured in lugs 21 and passing through the blocks, and nuts engaging the ends of the adjusting-bolts and bearing on the blocks.

5. In a device of the characterdescribed the combination with the bed and abutment E having transverse recesses, of knife-bar F having lugs lying in said recesses, blocks at the ends of said recesses, headless double-` 

